A fruitful visit to Cape Coast Teaching Hospital with ITM alumna and PhD student Elizabeth Tabitha Abbew!
Present in Ghana to organize an ITM Alumni meeting and to attend the ICASA 2025 Conference, Dr Maria Zolfo (education coordinator at the ITM Clinical Sciences Department) and Charlotte Morantin (ITM Internationalisation Officer) also took the opportunity to visit Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, where ITM alumna Elizabeth Tabitha Abbew is based.
Tabitha is an active ITM alumna: she is the ITM alumni representative at the General Council, an MTM alumna and a former J&J fellow. She is currently pursuing a sandwich PhD on Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) among DR-TB patients in Ghana, under the mentorship of Prof. Leen Rigouts and Prof. Dr. Tom Decroo. Her PhD defence will take place on 8th of January 2026.
During the visit, Maria and Charlotte were welcomed to Annex B of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, which opened just a year ago to treat TB patients as well as patients with other infectious diseases, including HIV. It’s impressive to see how much the Annex B has been equipped and organized in such a short time.
Together with Dr Eric Kofi Ngyedu (Chief Executive of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital), Tabitha and other colleagues, we had the opportunity to explore and discuss possible future collaborations and exchanges between ITM and the hospital.
A very warm thank you to everyone at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital for your hospitality and the rich, forward-looking discussions. We are very much looking forward to the next steps together!
Some impressions from the visit:
From left to right: Elizabeth Tabitha Abbew, Maria Zolfo, Charlotte Morantin & Mirabel Mantebea Mante
Hospital beds Annex B, Cape Coast Teaching Hospital
